Will Someone Please Put Google + Out of Its Misery?

No one wants it except a small sad minority that is addicted to social networking. We already have far more garbage social networking sites than we need. There’s Facebook, MySpace, Reddit, Digg, Stumbleupon, Foursquare, Quora, etc. The list is seemingly endless. Most are little more than glorified vBulletin boards offering nothing to users other than the opportunity to waste time in exchange for being data-mined.

Google + the Freddy Krueger of the Internets.

To be frank, Google + is starting to look like the Freddy Kreuger of the Internet. Just when you think and hope the damned thing’s dead, it springs back up and comes after you again.

Let’s be honest here: The only reason we still hear about Google + is because Google is one of the richest entities on the planet capable of throwing billions of dollars worth of online advertising at a product because it owns the Internet.

This is the only reason this DOA product still gets mentioned. The only one.

Last week I finally caved into the pressure to sign up for Google +. After wasting half an hour filling in my profile, I spent another hour or two perusing various business areas. (Is “area” the correct word when it comes to G+? I don’t know and I don’t care.) What I found was dismal. It was the usual gang of social media attention-whores trying to elbow their way to the front. There was no value there.

I then decided to delete my G+ account. Google warned me that it could take a few days to remove it. A full week later I am still seeing traces of it and worry about who can see what about me.

The Internet was a far better place when people could converse on bulletin boards under whatever aliases they wanted. Indeed a big part of the fun of community life was seeing all the creative and hilarious monikers people came up with for themselves. It was liberating and fun to be able to adopt a new name and persona. People talked more openly and honestly about everything from their work to their private lives. Just don’t make the mistake of thinking that these aliases kept people apart. They didn’t. Over time as you got to know Duderonomy, The Medium Lebowsky, and Captain Onliner, you’d know that the time had come to drop the virtual veil and let them know your real name. Countless friendships, romances, business partnerships, and even marriages sprung from these “anonymous” boards.

In contrast to this, social networking by forcing people to participate under their real names from the get-go, creates a different type of environment. It’s one that attracts attention-whores and show-boaters. There is a glaring fakeness to how most participate on it.

To sum up, we are already drowning in a sea of worthless social networking platforms which offer users little besides the opportunity to piss their lives away in exchange for earning “likes” and up-votes. However, there is a heavy price to be paid for using them in terms of the loss of one’s privacy. Sadly, the importance of privacy is something that most people won’t understand until it’s all gone. Society is now closing in on the point of no return with regards to the loss of privacy. Unfortunately, most people are too busy trying to win social networking brownie points to notice.

Someone please drive a stake into Google +’s ugly heart. Enough is enough. It’s dead. After two years it’s time to admit that it was DOA. We don’t want it; we don’t need it.

Interesting the Internet allows such a diverse offering of Social Media venues. We and our clients have spent time with them all and have found the greatest Traction with Facebook and now, Google+. In fact Google+ has really spurred traffic and conversions at a faster rate the Facebook.
Of course we are just simple business people looking for increase sales and profits by providing quality content and service.
Our client’s companies may not be Start-ups, but we are working with a few NEW businesses and they are pleased with positive results

It could have been two hours in total. I was interrupted a few times by the kids. As I admitted I am not a fan of social media and hope that the fad fades fast. As for G+, I don’t like the interface at all for a number of reasons including the fact that it’s dull looking. It’s like stepping into a sensory deprivation tank.

After poking around in the hopes of finding something interesting relating to startups, I gave up. My time is valuable.

I should add that no one in my circle of friends and associates uses G+. No one.

300+ million active users would assume that it is not going to die. The fact that you cannot find ANYTHING for startups (have you heard of Google Authorship, Communities, or +1’s?) shows that you are either terrible at finding useful stuff or writing this article for views.

I agree with Mike, to assume you are an expert so shortly as well as “hate social media” and write this article give zero credence. I’ll remember your blog because of this article, but only so as not to click any of your links and as you say, “waste my valuable time”….

Henry, it’s really sad to see how poorly researched your opinion is. The fact that you’re a professional and don’t seem to be aware of fundamental facts. I’ve debunked the Google+ Ghost Town stories a hundred times over. It’s a typical case of “I wasn’t successful, therefore the platform isn’t successful”. Enough people have had major succes with Google+ as a platform that your entire article does nothing more than discredit your relevance and ability to keep up with how the world is changing.

Every time a new platform is launched there is a stampede to register for the purposes of securing one’s name on it. This is what happened with Google Plus. After a few visits people stopped returning because there is nothing there. In my humble opinion whether Google Plus survives or not is a coin toss. Facebook is losing its momentum too. Teens avoid it. These social networking platforms all have a limited shelf life.

This has to be said. As a Google + fan boi, Dustin is being a tad disingenuous here, He points out on his blog that Google + got a lot faster to 100 million users than FB which took 5 years to do so. Now why might that be? Could it be that FB was starting from zero while two years ago Google was already the most dominant site ever seen on the Net? Dustin, you need to rethink your argument.

As for bad site design, have you looked at yours? It rates a 2 out of 10.

Dustin likes to pet his kitty cat while sipping Starbucks latte. At 35yo, he has never owned a car, doesn’t even have a driver’s license. His he reduces his carbon footprint by making friends in cyberspace. Real people are such a drag anyway.